Eastern Cougar is Extinct says U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Bruce Wright, New Brunswick wildlife biologist and author, with what is believed to be the last eastern cougar. The cougar was trapped by Rosarie Morin of St. Zacharie, Quebec, in Somerset County, Maine, in 1938. The mounted specimen resides in the New Brunswick Museum in St. John, New Brunswick. (Image: USFWS)
On Wednesday, March 2, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that the eastern c...

Cougar sitings (verified ones) are on the rise in the Southern US. These are all cats that have migrated from the West (proven by DNA sampling). With the increase in cat migration, it is only a matter of time until a new breeding population takes hold in the Eastern states.

I am not surprised that the USFWS has reached this conclusion, but nor would I be surprised in the least it at some point in the future a surviving population was confirmed in the heart of Appalachia, either.

Case in point: the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was classified as extict for many years. Until last year when the little tricksters reapeared, with confirmed sightings.

The TWRA has denied there are ANY cougars in Tennessee, and that claim is just a steaming pile of cat dung.

I know for a fact me and a good friend saw a large tan cat, larger than a bobcat in Shenehdoah in 09.

I've had friends go out in Jefferson National forest and say they have seen Cougar's..Do I believe them yes...Does USFW actually know because they haven't collard one. I highly doubt it...I find theory is not practicle at times and money for research or tracking is decreaseing do to budget cut's.That and I really get urked when I hear the term " Expert"..Thats a giant miss conception..I am sure many people can name alot of so called "Experts" in many fields that their theories have been disproven...

there have been numerouse sitings of cougars in michigans u.p. but i guess no one ask dem if day were eastern or western types but im sure if day would have some one would have cried predgedus(.lol) i tink a few sitings in l.p. as well.

I'm not buying it, they have been seen in Tennessee, and Alabama. Sounds like these guys still have their blinders on. I guess if they just say they are extinct they don't have to attempt to conserve the remaining population. I'd be willing to bet it's more about not wanting to have to do their jobs than it is about conservation.

Poor kitty! We love our Cougars out here in the Soviet of Washington! And there are lots of them, now in protected status, in the Pacific Coast States. I agree with the posting which predicted the mixing of cat reproductive information as the animals move about and ''discover'' new friends among kitties. But we have not had any encounters between hikers/campers and cats, and I have been out in the Cascade Range a lot, and I have seen only a few of these cats...one thinks that ...''oh! Someone's Yellow Lab is out here, running around!'' Then you see a three-foot long or more tail attached!! Meow! No, I do not leave my car and call out, ''Here, kitty kitty!'' People go for years and never see wonderful wild creatures...I look forward to being out there, in wild places. Meow!

I am gonna have to disagree with the assumption that they are extinct here in the east. A buddy of mine has encountered one while spotting deer and I have seen tracks on 3 seperate occasions within the past months in different locations. They are very elusive animals to say the least and typically stay out of the site of humans.

What a shame if it's true. How embarrassing for human beings that we are still so afraid of wild predators of all kinds that we routinely kill them when they show up outside of their "habitats". Just the other day a cougar was shot by "the authorities" in someone's back yard in the west. What, never heard of a tranquilizer gun? Fear....the most powerful emotion.

Don't be fooled. The conservative movement is no friend of wildlife, open space, wilderness, clean air or water, healthful food, or ANYTHING "natural". Why? Because there's no money in it. Plain and simple.

It seems that US Fish and Wildlife Service officials evaluated data from several sources between 1930 and the present and determined that the Eastern Cougar was extinct. Hence, there request to remove it from the list.

It appears that the USFWS differentiates the Eastern Cougar from the rest of the species, claiming that it is a sub-species of the North American Cougar. Also, some federal agencies make official references to verified sightings/ contacts of cougars in the eastern portions of the U.S. as those that wandered from the west and also to some extent - South America. But, apparently attributing the sightings as those cougars not directly related to the Eastern Cougars. Therefore, debunking common folk's claims of seeing cougars as proof positive existence of the Eastern Cougar.

The general concensus seems to point in the direction that the Eastern Cougar is within the species group of the North American Cougar.

It would appear to me as no real world evaluations were utilized and that the USFWS used wording to justify there position on this subject.

Always hurts to see a cat (cougar) taken by authorities, especially in that they often don't have patience to wait and capture but rather kill. I know the cougar is dangerous but still a part of nature that I would like to see around for a lot longer.